• Victor@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Hold up. The US has over 100 guns per 100 people? 😳 So on average, everyone owns at least one gun? Tell me I’m reading that wrong!

    • ilillilillilillililli@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Close, but the best estimates are there are 470 million guns in US civilian hands. With a population of 338 million, you’re looking at approximately 1.4 guns per person in this crazy land of free-dumb. 😂

        • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          If it makes you feel better, most gun owners own many guns, so there isn’t actually a gun in everyone’s hands.

          Just a lot of them in a few hands… Much better…

          • bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Some people are collectors, but a lot of people just have some old guns around.

            Also if guns are a hobby or interest of yours, you are likely to own several. Just like people who are into headphones, mechanical keyboards, vintage gaming consoles, bicycles, etc.

            • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              I was about to compare it to telescopes. Most people don’t have one, most people who have one only have one, but a few of us have upwards of five

            • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              Just like people who are into sarin, questionably stored viral samples, bombs, gillotines, etc.

              You can call these things “collectables” but their nature doesn’t change because you put a friendly term to it. It is psychologically fucked up to stockpile lethal weapons that can only be used for taking life without even having a practical application in mind.

              • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                I’m going to push back a little bit. For one thing, have you ever gone hunting? Some would say that taking life (specifically deers and rabbits and stuff) is a practical application. For two, sport shooting is a thing. Being good at using a weapon can be rewarding in and of itself, whether you’re talking about guns, bows, slingshots, or throwing knives.

    • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip
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      2 months ago

      It’s that the people who own guns tend to own gunnnsssss. Like an entire arsenal. Most people don’t own any.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Around 40% in the USA own at least one firearm. It’s probably higher now since trump is back in power.

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Think of it this way. The majority of our gun deaths are from suicides, then the next largest amount is from gang/drug violence, after that it’s police (on average 1k a year) then it’s the rest. Meaning that around 4k deaths a year are from literally everything else (domestic/robberies/random acts). We don’t really have a gun problem, we have an issue with our society. 99.99999999% of all firearms in civ hands have never been used to harm another person.

              Poverty creates the violence, lack of education, lack of social support, lack of opportunities, lack of healthcare. If we fixed those things, our guns violence would plummet overnight. But the owners of this country would rather have us fighting each other than them.